Letters

Teamwork helped produce playground

November 16, 2012

We could not have done it without the support of several agencies and local volunteers! I'm speaking, of course, about the recent repairs and renovations to the Paw Print Park playground at the Lake Placid Elementary School.

On behalf of the Lake Placid Central School District, I am writing to express our appreciation for the community's support of the repairs on Oct. 5 and Oct. 6. Several volunteers from our community were assisted by the town of North Elba and village of Lake Placid highway departments, as well as the electric department to repair and renovate the Paw Print Park playground at the Lake Placid Elementary School. The first day of the project got a big boost on Friday, Oct. 5, when student-athletes from Northwood School provided volunteer service. Their teamwork and spirit de corps was noteworthy, and it was a pleasure to watch them work together.

Central to the entire project were the efforts of the FRIENDS parent group, which had the original vision for the project, performed the fundraising and then set about building the playground. Later, when the need for repairs and renovations was identified, FRIENDS continued to provided leadership and support for the project, and worked with contractor Pat Ledger to build and renovate the facility. In particular, Katrina Kroes, Diane Brenner and Jackie Gilmore deserve a big pat on the back for their leadership in the project.

From the district end, the work of Jeff Jacques, Bill Begor, Dave Mayberry, Randy Winch, Ron Winch and Principal Javier Perez was also critical to the process.

Our students and community are now enjoying a creative, imaginative and safe playground that reflects the Adirondack lifestyle, vision of the FRIENDS group and philosophy of the district.

Without the efforts of key, critical community partners coming together for the good of our students, it would have been very difficult and much more expensive for the district to complete the project.